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Everyone has their fair share of the earthquake experience. Mine isn’t excluded.

I was in a car with my family members when the quake happened. All of us were waiting in car for my bro who dropped by a dental clinic for a quick inspection on his braces. Busy buried my nose in Hunger Games ebook, I knew the car shook but didn’t bother to voice it out. I was on chapter 21 where Katniss was about to attend the feast and therefore other 4 senses automatically ‘shunned down’ except for my eyes.

It was my mum who voiced out on the shook. She cried, “who shakes the car so violently?“

I was still reading, but it slower pace. My mind began to feel dizzy – the shook was indeed hard, but the drive of continue reading was so strong that I replied, “must be Dad, shaking his legs.“

My dad was reading newspaper at the front passenger side, he stopped reading too, inspecting the shook (I supposed) before looking at us via the back mirror and said, “Not me. I didn’t shake. Must be ah girl.“

My dad meant me. I sat upright, the shook was less violent now. My dad turned to face us, locking gaze with me and I can tell both of us were figuring out what was happening.

Then the shook stopped.

My dad and I continued reading, my sister busied on her phone while mum continued her Soduku game. Bro came and we left for very late lunch. We debated on going to Gurney but nobody seconded the idea so we thought of eating nearby.

We were in Pulau Tikus area that time. As we passed by Adventist Hospital, mum wondered why there were bunch of people at the hospital compound. Didn’t know why I answered, “Oh, because Adventist Hospital’s bakery is well-known, so maybe a lot of people go there to buy bread.”

My sister giggled at my answer.

Then we passed by Midlands and again there were plenty of people outside the building. It was my sister who voiced out this time – and curiously I lifted up my head again and true indeed, many people were on talking on phones and pointing upwards.

I seriously didn’t know what came to me that I blurted out, “Maybe someone tried to suicide there,” and then I saw my dad looking up!

All of us laughed when I said, “whoa Dad, you really look up!” He gave a chuckle.

We went to Belissa Row for super duper late lunch. It was near 5pm that time when we got out of the car and headed towards Taipei 102.

We were seated cosily at Taipei 102 and busy flipping through menu when I received a sms asking me if I felt the quake earlier.

Mother of technology! I almost jumped out of my chair when I realised that it was the earth who shook the car just now! I immediately told the rest on the earthquake and my bro immediately took up his phone and traced the location of the quake. My sister and I began to log into Facebook and both our new-feeds were flooded with information on earthquake.

Apparently it was massive (8.9 Ritcher scale!) and the point was somewhere similar to the quake in 2004 which generated unforgettable tsunami incident. All of us began talking about it, pondered if tsunami alert was issued out to all. We kept checking on Facebook for more information.

Then I called up Satkuru. I asked him why he didn’t inform me on the quake. He told me he did call me many, many times but couldn’t go through. Maybe the network was busy due to the sudden surge of phone calls made in the country. Surely people called family members, loved ones and friends to see if they’re alright, if they felt the quake etc etc.

Everything was back to normal – assuming it was. We didn’t bother to go Gurney (tho we wanted to initially) after that because we read about the possible tsunami wave that will reach Penang at 9pm.

Thankfully the wave didn’t come. The 2nd quake did.

It happened barely 15 minutes after we reached home. I was about to sit on the floor and start my laptop when I felt dizzy suddenly. I felt like the earth was on move again, so I quickly sat down and thought if the earth really moved. Few seconds later I cried to my siblings, asking them if they realised the shook. They said nope, and I immediately looked up at the ceiling fan in the dining area.

The ceiling fan was swaying left and right at a small angle. I ran to the dining area to double confirm my vision. True indeed, the ceiling fan and the hanging lights were swinging. I shouted to my siblings that it’s the 2nd quake and all of them went to notify my parents while I was searching for Miilo frantically.

Looks like that mischievous dog had ran out of the house to the garden at the same time as I ran to the dining area.

The shook lasted few minutes – I think. And it wasn’t as violent as the first. Maybe because we were in mainland which is slightly farther from the epicentre compared to Pulau Tikus. I found out from Facebook later that the milder quake was measured at 8.2 on Ritcher scale. Kinda strong to me, but impact was lesser. Must be because of the location – I told myself.

At 8.30 pm last night, news went around regarding the tsunami warning was lifted off for our country. You wouldn’t know how happy we were hearing this news.